It is that time of year again! The citrus trees in our yard are heavy with ripe fruit and I am busy packing boxes to ship to my relatives on the East Coast. I have been seeing a lot of recipes for dishes that contain preserved lemons and I have decided to preserve a jar of my Bearss limes. They are a little sweeter than lemons, but have a bright yellow color when ripe and are bursting with juice.
Ripe Bearss Limes
I scrub and dry enough limes to fit into a large sterilized Mason jar. The limes are then sliced into quarters without completely cutting through to the end.
Sliced – but intact
I pour a heaping tablespoon of coarse sea salt into the center of each lime.
Sea Salted Lime
I place the lime top down into the mason jar and press firmly with the back of my (clean) hand squeezing some of the juice as I go. Repeat this until the jar is packed full and juice surrounds all of the fruit. A wonderful benefit is that your hands smell of fresh citrus all day!
Pressed Fruit
Place the jar in your refrigerator. Wait about two weeks and use in any recipe that calls for preserved lemons. I suppose this could be done with any citrus fruit. You would have some creative results tweaking traditional recipes that contain preserved lemons by replacing with the citrus of your choice. I will post a recipe with these as soon as they are ready!
Ready to Refrigerate
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